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1 


Another  Pf^ar 

Mexico?" 


SERMON  PREACHED  IN  THE 

FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH 
COLUMBUS,  OHIO 

JUNE  25,  1916 


By 

WASHINGTON  GLADDEN 
Pastor  Emeritus 


1 


ANOTHER  WAR  WITH  MEXICO? 


It  will  be  seventy-two  years  next  September  since 
I  took  a  long  journey  from  Central  Massachusetts  to 
Central  New  York.  To  an  eight  year  old  boy  it  was 
naturally  a  memorable  journey.  The  first  eighty  or 
ninety  miles  of  it  was  by  rail  over  what  is  now  the 
Boston  and  Albany  road,  but  was  then  known  as  the 
Western  Railroad — in  second  class  cars,  springless,  I 
think,  on  cushionless  benches,  without  backs,  over  a 
rough  track — the  roughest  ride  in  all  my  experience. 
From  Albany  to  Syracuse,  a  very  slow  freight  boat  on 
the  Erie  Canal  gave  one  a  taste  of  the  delights  of 
leisure;  and  the  journey  from  Syracuse  to  my  home  in 
Tioga  County  by  stage  added  variety  to  the  experience. 
Travel,  in  these  days,  is  much  more  monotonous  than  it 
used  to  be  when  I  was  a  boy. 

The  most  vivid  recollection  of  the  last  stage  of  my 
journey  was  an  afternoon  in  Cortland,  New  York, 
where  there  had  just  been  a  flag-raising.  National 
politics  were  beginning  to  simmer;  Polk  was  the  Dem¬ 
ocratic  candidate,  and  a  flag  on  which  was  inscribed 
“Polk  and  Annexation”  was  floating  from  a  hickory 
pole  in  the  center  of  the  public  square.  A  small  boy 
about  the  tavern  with  whom  I  struck  up  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  led  me  to  the  flag-staff  and  taught  me  to  shout 
“Hurrah  for  Polk!”  It  was  not  long  before  I  learned 
that  “Annexation”  meant  war;  and  all  the  events  and 
sensations  of  that  war  with  Mexico  are  vivid  memories. 
This  was  my  first  lesson  in  politics;  and  all  that  I 
learned  about  national  life  during  my  first  decade  was 
pretty  closely  connected  with  war — the  Mexican  war. 
Like  most  boys  I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  stories 
of  the  war;  I  read  all  I  could  find  about  the  battles  and 
the  campaigns,  and  the  heroes;  the  conquest  was  an 


3 


unequal  one;  our  troops  were  almost  uniformly  vic¬ 
torious,  and  all  questions  about  the  right  and  wrong  of 
the  conflict  were  practically  out  of  sight,  as  they  always 
are  as  soon  as  the  war-cry  begins.  How  much  considera¬ 
tion  were  we  giving  in  those  days  to  the  question 
whether  the  right  was  on  our  side.^  Not  much,  if  my 
memory  serves  me.  The  almost  universal  feeling  was 
that  since  the  fight  was  on  we  must  fight  (and  shout,  of 
course)  for  our  side.  That  was  what  a  good  many  mem¬ 
bers  of  Congress  said.  They  did  not  all  conceal  their 
belief  that  the  war  was  an  unjust  war,  but  assumed  that 
since  it  had  been  begun  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to 
fight  it  out.  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  protested  that  he 
wished  to  absolve  himself  of  all  responsibility  for  the 
war,  which  had  been  precipitated  by  the  President  in 
ordering  General  Taylor  to  march  into  Mexican  terri¬ 
tory;  but  he  was  ready  to  vote  supplies  for  the  army. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  then  in  Congress,  was  saying 
practically  the  same  thing.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky,  a 
southern  Whig,  expressed  the  sentiment  that  “more 
distressing  intelligence  had  never  been  communicated 
to  Congress  by  any  President,  (than  the  announcement 
of  the  beginning  of  hostilities).  The  importance  of  the 
event,  he  said,  did  not  consist  in  the  amount  of  precious 
blood  that  had  then  been  shed,  but  in  the  bad  example 
and  the  evil  consequences  to  republicanism  and  to 
liberty  everywhere.  H  hope,’  he  said,  ‘to  find  my 
country  in  the  right;  however,  I  will  stand  by  her,  right 
or  wrong.”  That  was  the  tone  of  leading  members  of 
Congress.  It  is  melancholy  to  witness  such  a  surrender 
of  intelligence  and  conscience  to  a  popular  craze.  Mr. 
Crittenden  was  not  quite  sincere  in  saying  that  he 
hoped  to  find  his  country  in  the  right;  he  knew  that  she 
was  in  the  wrong.  He  knew  that  the  occupation  of  the 
territory  of  Mexico  by  American  troops  was  an  act  of 
wanton  aggression.  He  knew  that  it  was  done  because 
it  was  the  deliberate  purpose  of  those  who  were  pro¬ 
moting  the  war  to  rob  Mexico  of  a  large  part  of  her 


4 


domain.  He  yielded  to  it  because  it  is  always  unpopular 
to  oppose  a  war. 

And  the  rest  of  us,  boys  and  men,  inside  Congress 
and  out,  shouted  for  it  and  voted  for  it  simply  be¬ 
cause  it  was  a  popular  craze.  There  was  not,  there 
could  not  have  been  any  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
intelligent  American  voters,  that  the  United  States  had 
any  good  reason  for  going  to  war  with  Mexico.  There 
was  a  small  minority  of  very  selfish  and  unprincipled 
men  who  had  reasons  of  their  own  for  wanting  war  with 
Mexico.  They  wanted  more  slave  territory,  they 
wanted  more  slave  states,  and  Mexico  was  weak  and 
helpless  and  could  be  despoiled  of  her  territory.  If  a 
quarrel  could  be  trumped  up  she  could  easily  be  over¬ 
powered  and  robbed.  Mexico  did  not  want  war:  she 
had  shown  in  a  hundred  ways  her  desire  to  avert  war, 
her  readiness  to  make  all  possible  concessions  to  prevent 
war;  she  was  making  no  attack  upon  us  and  threat¬ 
ening  none;  no  collision  between  the  two  countries 
could  come  unless  it  was  wantonly  provoked  by  the 
United  States.  It  zaas  wantonly  provoked,  and  before 
the  country  knew  anything  of  the  real  causes  of  the 
strife  the  hue  and  cry  was  sounding  over  the  land  “We 
are  at  war  with  Mexico!”  With  the  vast  majority  that 
was  enough.  The  vast  majority  did  not  reason  about  it 
any  more  sanely  than  the  members  of  Congress  did. 
They  could  hardly  have  been  expected  to  be  any  more 
reasonable  than  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  and  Crittenden, 
of  Kentucky,  were.  What  could  they  be  expected  to 
think  or  say  or  do  ^  “  If  your  country  is  at  war,  are  you 

going  to  take  the  side  of  the  enemy  Fie  for  your  patri¬ 
otism!”  That  is  what  you  always  hear.  If  you  can 
only  get  the  fighting  started,  the  reasoning  will  stop. 
Inter  arma  silent  reges,  et  rationes!  Woe  to  any  man 
who  undertakes  to  stem  the  tide  of  passion!  Tom 
Corwin  ventured  to  do  it,  and  he  was  promptly  driven 
out  of  office  and  made  to  feel  for  a  long  time  the  con¬ 
demnation  of  his  fellow  citizens.  He  recovered  from 


5 


that,  indeed,  after  a  while,  and  came  back  into  influence 
and  power,  for  the  jeering  multitude  came  to  their 
senses,  by  and  by  and  were  able  to  see  that  he  was 
absolutely  right,  and  that  it  was  their  own  heads  that 
had  been  turned.  But  for  the  present  he  was  down  and 
out. 

There  is  no  question  now  but  that  that  war  with 
Mexico  was  a  war  of  wanton  aggression.  It  cost  this 
nation  perhaps  15,000  lives,  and  perhaps  ^160,000,000; 
that,  for  those  days,  was  a  heavy  cost.  How  much  it  cost 
Mexico  of  blood  and  treasure  will  never  be  known.  Of 
course  the  conquest  was  easy,  as  wars  go.  The  resist¬ 
ance  of  this  feeble  nation  was  soon  overcome,  and  the 
aggressors  won  their  game — Mexico  had  to  give  what 
her  conqueror  demanded.  What  he  took  was  about 
650,000  square  miles  of  her  territory,  comprising  what  is 
now  a  good  strip  of  Western  Texas,  and  the  whole  of 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  and  California — enough  to 
make  sixteen  states  like  Ohio.  That’s  all!  For  this 
‘‘cession”  the  United  States  government  did  indeed 
“grant”  to  Mexico  at  the  end  what  President  Polk 
described  as  the  “magnanimous”  appropriation  of 
$15,000,000 — enough  to  pay,  perhaps,  for  some  small 
county  in  southern  California.  >  Conscience  money, 
maybe;  if  so  it  is  a  sorry  commentary  on  the  size  and 
quality  of  the  national  conscience. 

Just  how  much  damage  the  American  nation  sus¬ 
tained  in  that  transaction  I  should  not  like  to  be  called 
on  to  estimate — in  the  dulling  of  its  ideals,  in  the  weak¬ 
ening  of  its  moral  sense,  in  the  loosening  of  its  fiber,  in 
the  clouding  of  its  vision.  Probably  it  was  preparing 
for  the  Civil  War,  which  followed  only  a  dozen  years 
later.  “Preparedness”  has  many  phases,  and  some  long 
leases  to  run.  But  I  am  persuaded  that  a  nation,  no 
more  than  an  individual,  can  violate  the  eternal  prin¬ 
ciples  of  justice  and  righteousness,  without  suffering  in 
its  own  life.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Mexico  also  suf¬ 
fered  heavy  and  lasting  injuries  as  the  result  of  this  war. 


6 


She  was  robbed,  to  begin  with,  of  a  large  and  rich  part 
of  her  domain;  physically,  she  was  crippled  and  weak¬ 
ened;  her  national  pride  was  humiliated;  worst  of  all 
she  was  filled  with  bitter  and  fierce  suspicions  and 
resentments.  Her  nearest  neighbor  had  turned  upon 
her  and  flung  her  down  in  the  mire  and  trampled  upon 
her.  How  could  Mexicans  ever  learn  to  respect  and 
trust  the  people  of  the  United  States.?  We  were  held 
up  to  them  as  the  representatives  of  a  certain  type  of 
Christianity  different  from  their  own.  Could  we  expect 
them  to  be  attracted  to  Protestantism,  to  have  any 
other  feeling  than  hot  hatred  for  everything  which 
called  itself  by  that  name?  Who  can  doubt  that  a  large 
part  of  the  discouragement  and  obscurantism  and  back¬ 
wardness  of  Mexico  during  the  last  seventy  years  is  due 
to  the  injury  inflicted  upon  her  two  generations  ago  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States? 

I  wonder  if  it  is  possible  for  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  forget  all  these  things.  I  wonder  if  it  never 
occurs  to  those  of  them  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians  that  some  debts  are  due  from  them  to  these 
hapless  people.  The  two  republics  have  been  living 
next  door  for  three-quarters  of  a  century,  since  this  act 
of  spoliation  took  place;  one  of  them  has  been  growing 
rich  and  strong;  a  considerable  part  of  that  wealth  is 
the  product  of  the  domain  of  which  the  other  was 
plundered.  Might  not  some  slumbering  sense  of  justice 
now  and  then  awaken  in  the  heart  of  the  strong  nation, 
prompting  it  to  thoughts  of  restitution?  Might  not 
Americans  at  any  rate  be  moved  to  consider  that  a 
policy  of  forbearance  and  conciliation,  a  spirit  of  clem¬ 
ency  and  toleration  is  at  least  becoming  in  our  dealings 
with  those  who  have  suffered  so  much  at  our  hands? 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  come  for  this  nation  to 
show  its  nobleness  and  its  magnanimity,  in  big  meas¬ 
ure,  to  the  people  of  Mexico. 

True  it  is  that  the  sinister  motives  which  led  to  the 
war  of  conquest  in  1846  have  largely  disappeared  out  of 


7 


our  national  life.  We  have  no  longer  the  same  reasons 
for  wishing  to  rob  them  of  their  heritage  that  we  had 
then.  There  is  no  ill-will  in  the  hearts  of  the  American 
people  toward  them.  Their  traditional  hatred  and  con¬ 
tempt  for  the  “Gringoes”  is  no  longer  justified  by  any¬ 
thing  which  can  be  found  in  the  hearts  of  the  masses  of 
the  American  people.  They  have  had  a  chance  to  get 
acquainted  with  some  of  us  during  recent  years;  for 
capital  has  been  seeking  investment  in  Mexico,  and 
numbers  of  Americans  have  come  into  contact  with  the 
industrial  and  commercial  classes.  That  the  Mexicans 
have  learned  in  this  way  to  respect  and  trust  some 
Americans  I  am  sure;  that  they  may  have  learned  also 
to  distrust  and  hate  some  Americans,  I  greatly  fear. 
We  know  well  enough  that  there  are  Americans  who  are 
ready  to  exploit  everything  that  is  exploitable,  and  I 
fear  that  they  do  not  all  stay  at  home,  as  I  wish  that 
they  would.  Such  men  are  apt  to  be  adventurers,  and  a 
civilization  like  that  of  Mexico  offers  them  a  great 
opportunity.  It  would  not  surprise  me  therefore  to 
learn  that  a  good  many  Mexicans  have  added  to  their 
traditional  suspicion  of  the  “Gringoes”  some  reasons  of 
their  own  for  enmity  toward  them.  And  putting  mem¬ 
ories  and  experiences  all  together,  I  cannot  doubt  that 
there  is  at  the  present  time  in  the  Mexican  mind  an 
antipathy  toward  Americans  which  is  inveterate  and 
intense,  and  not  wholly  inexplicable.  What  I  should 
like  to  have  my  countrymen  understand  is  the  extent  of 
their  responsibility  for  this  condition  of  the  Mexican 
mind.  What  I  would  like  to  bring  home  to  them  is  the 
great  need  of  forbearance  and  self-control,  and  consider¬ 
ation  in  dealing  with  it. 

Doubtless  very  irritating  and  exasperating  things 
are  happening  along  the  border.  What  I  should  like  to 
know  is  whether  all  these  disturbances  are  due  to  Mexi¬ 
can  lawlessness;  whether  they  are  not  sometimes 
provoked  by  contempt  and  aggression  originating  on 
our  side.  How  much  of  all  this  trouble  originates  with 


8 


outlaws  and  bandits  from  our  own  side  who  have  found 
refuge  in  the  Mexican  border? 

That  we  have  much  to  endure  from  the  turbulence 
and  semi-savagery  of  the  Mexicans,  I  cannot  doubt;  I 
wish  I  knew  a  little  better  how  much  they  have  to 
endure  from  us.  It  is  natural  and  human  to  say  and 
think  that  when  there  is  any  trouble,  the  other  fellow 
is  to  blame;  I  suppose  that  it  is  just  as  natural  for 
Mexicans  to  say  and  think  so  as  for  Americans.  But  I 
wonder  if  Americans  have  not  some  larger  reasons  for 
being  patient  and  forbearing  than  the  Mexicans  have. 

When  a  band  of  Mexican  bandits  marches  across 
the  border  and  shoots  up  and  burns  up  an  American 
town,  murdering  several  of  its  inhabitants,  and  when 
there  seems  to  be  no  power  on  the  other  side  to  prevent 
or  punish  such  depredations,  it  is  clear  that  some  effective 
measures  must  be  taken  by  our  government  to  put  an 
end  to  them.  But  punitive  expeditions  of  that  sort  are 
hard  to  manage:  it  is  difficult  to  fix  their  limits  and  to 
define  their  powers.  The  sooner  they  can  be  withdrawn 
the  better  for  all  concerned. 

We  are  dealing  with  a  disorganized  and  chaotic 
society,  filled  with  lawless  and  criminal  elements;  it  is 
a  difficult  situation. 

Certain  it  is  that  our  President  has  manifested 
great  patience  and  forbearance  in  dealing  with  it.  I 
have  not  knowledge  enough  of  all  the  circumstances  to 
justify  me  in  approving  or  in  condemning  all  the  features 
of  his  administration;  he  may  have  sometimes  done  too 
much  and  sometimes  not  enough;  not  possessing  the 
omniscience  which  some  of  his  critics  seem  to  claim, 
I  cannot  undertake  to  appraise  his  policy  in  detail;  but 
I  am  sure  that  he  has  meant  to  be  both  just  and  con¬ 
ciliatory  in  his  treatment  of  the  Mexicans;  and  I  can¬ 
not  doubt  that  he  is  seeking  their  best  interest  as  well  as 
our  own.  He  is  a  historian,  and  he  cannot  help  knowing 
those  discreditable  facts  to  which  I  have  referred;  he 
characterizes  them  in  his  history,  as  an  “inexcusable 


9 


aggression,”  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  gives  them 
now  the  weight  to  which  they  are  entitled.  He  has 
honestly  and  diligently  sought  to  guard  against  war 
with  Mexico. 

But  there  are  powerful  influences  which  have  con¬ 
stantly  been  urging  upon  him  policies  and  attitudes 
which  must  lead  to  war. 

First,  most  cryptic,  most  insidious,  and  most 
powerful  is  the  interest  of  thousands  of  millions  of  dol¬ 
lars,  invested  in  businesses,  financial  or  industrial, 
which  would  reap  an  immediate  profit  from  war.  No¬ 
body  supposes  that  these  interests  have  openly  pro¬ 
posed  war  to  our  government;  but  nobody  can  doubt 
that  the  pressure  of  their  influence  has  been  felt  in 
quarters  where  it  would  be  most  effective. 

Second  is  the  concentrated  influence  of  the  army 
and  navy  organizations,  always  pervasive  and  powerful 
in  Washington  and  always  naturally  and  professionally 
in  favor  of  war. 

Third  is  the  war  hysteria  which  has  been  sweeping 
over  this  country  like  an  epidemic.  That  all  Europe  is 
insane  is  palpable,  and  that  madness  is  contagious;  the 
ocean  is  no  protection;  the  spectacle  of  that  carnage 
kindles  the  lust  of  battle  in  millions  of  those  who  look 
on,  so  that,  instead  of  revolting  at  this  horror,  they  are 
mad  to  rush  into  it.  Nothing  is  more  dreadful  and  dis¬ 
heartening  then  the  outbreaking  of  this  passion  for 
slaughter,  in  the  heart  of  our  twentieth  century  civiliza¬ 
tion.  Bertrand  Russell,  in  his  book  just  published  on 
“Justice  in  War  Time,”  names  three  central  causes  of 
war:  fear,  pride,  and  “plain  lust  of  bloodshed.”  “It  is 
hard  to  admit  this,”  he  says,  “but  it  is  true.  The  in¬ 
stinct  for  fighting  and  killing  is  as  old  as  the  instinct  for 
marrying.  And  in  its  present  outbreak,  instead  of  being 
tempered  by  centuries  of  intellectual  and  ethical  growth, 
it  is  infinitely  more  hideous,  brutish,  frightful  and 
shocking  than  any  war,  back  as  far  as  the  memory  of 


lO 


man  runs.  Never  was  such  a  welter  of  blood-lust  on  the 
globe.” 

It  is  this  deadly  infection  that  the  fetid  winds  have 
brought  across  the  Atlantic  and  spread  over  this  coun¬ 
try.  It  is  difficult  to  account  in  any  other  way  for  the 
craze  for  preparedness  which  has  swept  over  the  land 
and  stirred  up  the  people  of  this  continent  to  clamor  for 
preparation  for  war  when  there  was  no  enemy  in  sight. 
Of  course  it  has  been  plain,  all  the  while,  that  we  should 
have  to  find  an  enemy  or  invent  one;  and  now  this  dis¬ 
turbance  with  Mexico  supplies  the  demand.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  government  will  insist  on  finding  some 
better  reason  for  war  with  Mexico  than  the  desire  to 
justify  this  demand  for  preparedness. 

Added  to  the  commercial  and  the  hysterical  insti¬ 
gations  of  war  with  Mexico  are  the  border  frictions  and 
the  other  collisions  of  Americans  with  Mexicans,  to  which 
I  have  referred.  It  is  difficult  for  me  to  believe  that  any 
or  all  these  motives  justify  the  United  States  in  going 
to  war  with  Mexico.  At  any  rate  I  want  to  appeal  to 
my  fellow  countrymen  to  consider  well,  before  they  take 
a  step  or  lift  a  finger  in  preparation  for  war,  all  these 
facts  to  which  I  have  called  their  attention.  For  myself 
I  have  many  doubts  as  to  whether  war  is  ever  justifiable ; 
I  am  sure  that  there  is  always  a  better  way  for  two 
nations  to  settle  any  difficulties  that  may  arise  between 
them  than  by  trying  to  see  which  nation  can  kill  the 
most  of  the  other  nation’s  capable  and  efficient  young 
men.  I  am  sure  that  that  is  absolutely  the  worst  possible 
way  of  settling  any  kind  of  national  trouble. 

But  while  I  would  try  hard  to  avoid  war  with 
every  nation,  I  confess  that  I  would  try  a  good  deal 
harder  to  avoid  war  with  Mexico  than  with  almost  any 
other  nation  that  I  can  think  of  as  a  possible  enemy. 

The  first  reason  why  I  do  not  want  the  United 
States  to  fight  Mexico  is  that  it  seems  a  shameful  thing 
•  to  do.  The  old  taunt  of  the  playground  comes  back  to 
me:  “Take  one  o’  yer  size!”  It  used  to  be  thought 


II 


unsportsmanlike  for  a  big  strapping  fellow  of  sixteen  or 
eighteen  to  pick  a  quarrel  or  match  muscles  with  a  little 
sickly  chap  of  seven  or  eight.  And  it  doesn’t  seem  just 
the  decent  thing  for  a  nation  of  a  hundred  millions  of 
people  to  be  squaring  off  for  a  trial  of  physical  strength 
with  a  nation  of  thirteen  millions;  for  a  nation  as  rich 
and  strong  and  resourceful  as  ours — the  richest  nation 
in  the  world — to  be  getting  ready  to  light  a  nation 
crippled,  impoverished,  anemic,  bankrupt,  disorganized, 
helpless! 

I  could  never  get  much  glory — after  all  the  shouting 
— out  of  the  conquest  of  Mexico  seventy  years  ago.  I 
never  wanted  to  read  the  story  over,  did  you?  Have 
you  ever  known  of  a  book  being  made  for  boys  about 
the  Mexican  war?  There  wasn’t  really  much  to  brag 
about.  And  yet  the  disparity  between  the  two  powers 
is  vastly  greater  now  than  it  was  then.  We  are  sure  to 
get  a  great  deal  less  glory  out  of  another  war  with 
Mexico,  than  we  got  out  of  the  first,  which  was  much 
less  than  none  at  all.  We  shall  not,  I  am  sure,  rob  her  of 
any  more  of  her  territory;  we  are  past  that;  and  just 
what  the  sum  of  our  gains  will  be,  I  shall  not  try  to 
compute. 

I  do  not  know  either  what  our  losses  will  be;  in  all 
probability  they  will  be  considerable.  A  small  and  poor 
nation  fighting  with  desperation  may  inflict  terrible 
injury  on  a  big  and  rich  nation;  England  found  that  out 
in  the  Boer  War.  There  was  no  doubt,  from  the  first, 
of  course,  that  the  Boers  would  ultimately  be  over¬ 
powered;  but  I  dare  say  that  the  losses  of  the  English 
were  fully  ten  times  as  great  as  anybody  expected  them 
to  be  when  the  war  began.  And  so  there  is  no  question 
but  what  we  shall  conquer  Mexico,  this  time  as  we  did 
before;  but  it  will  cost  us,  probably,  a  good  deal  more 
this  time  than  it  did  the  other  time.  And  the  pitiable, 
the  horrible  thing  is  that  we  shall  be  compelled  to  inflict 
still  deadlier  harm  on  them — on  these  poor,  ignorant. 


12 


half-savage  people,  who  have  but  the  dimmest  idea  of 
what  they  are  fighting  for  or  against! 

The  one  sure  result  of  this  second  war  with  Mexico 
will  be  a  great  waste  of  life  on  both  sides;  the  addition 
to  our  debt  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  ;the  absolute 
impoverishment  and  prostration  of  Mexican  industry 
with  the  death,  probably,  of  thousands  of  women  and 
children  by  starvation;  and  the  fixing  of  a  great  gulf  of 
hatred  and  contempt  between  the  two  countries,  which 
no  efforts  of  good  will  ever  be  able  to  bridge. 

This  is  the  goal  toward  which  the  people  of  the 
United  States  now  seem  to  be  marching  quite  light- 
heartedly.  Possibly  some  of  you  are  able  to  feel  en¬ 
thusiastic  and  triumphant  about  it;  I  am  not.  If  the 
war  goes  on  to  its  bitter  end,  and  the  newspapers  bring 
us  daily  news  of  victories  over  such  a  foe,  purchased  at 
such  a  cost,  I  do  not  expect  to  read  them  with  exulta¬ 
tion;  that  glory  will  be  lusterless  for  me;  you  may  have 
all  my  share  in  that  triumph. 

For  I  shall  feel,  through  it  all,  that  it  was  quite 
possible  for  my  country,  with  more  effective  weapons,  in 
a  warfare  that  was  not  carnal,  without  shedding  a  drop 
of  blood,  to  have  won  a  much  more  signal  victory.  I 
shall  look  back  to  this  day,  with  the  assurance,  that  if, 
even  at  this  juncture,  the  preparations  for  war  had  been 
arrested,  and  an  adequate  and  resolute  effort  had  been 
made,  the  barriers  of  suspicion  and  ill-will  might  have 
been  broken  down  and  the  foundations  laid  for  a  whole¬ 
some  and  righteous  peace,  and  an  enduring  and  profit¬ 
able  friendship  between  the  two  republics. 

For  that,  I  am  strongly  convinced,  is  possible 
today.  I  do  not  believe  that  this  nation  has  exhausted 
the  possibilities  of  conciliation.  If  this  nation  would 
address  itself  today  to  the  business  of  making  peace, 
with  one  tenth  of  the  vigor  and  resolution  which  it  is 
applying  to  the  business  of  making  war;  if  it  were  ready 
to  spend  one  tenth  of  the  amount  of  money  in  bringing 
aid  to  Mexican  industries  which  it  is  now  getting  ready 


13 


to  spend  in  devastating  Mexico,  we  could  very  speedily 
overcome  much  of  the  ill-will  of  the  Mexican  people  and 
call  together  the  forces  which  would  reunite  the  people 
and  put  them  in  the  way  to  the  rehabilitation  of  their 
national  life.  We  have  sent  one  or  two  representatives 
to  Mexico  who  have  sought  to  express  our  good  will  and 
who  have,  I  doubt  not,  mediated  wisely:  our  own 
townsman  who  is  there  today,  is  doing,  I  doubt  not,  all 
that  any  one  good  and  wise  man  can  do,  to  pour  oil  on 
the  troubled  waters;  but  what  I  should  like  to  see  is  a 
great  delegation  of  our  best  known  and  most  influential 
men  sent  down  there — men  like  President  Taft  and 
President  Eliot  and  Cardinal  Gibbons  and  Judge  Parker 
and  Mr.  Bryan  and  Judge  Brandeis  and  Secretary 
Baker  and  Samuel  Gompers — a  dozen  or  more  such  men 
of  all  parties — men  of  such  fame  and  position  that  all 
Mexico  would  have  to  sit  up  and  take  notice,  saying, 
“These  are  men  who  have  a  right  to  speak  for  America; 
now  let  us  listen,  and  hear  what  America  has  to  say.” 
I  am  sure  that  such  a  delegation  could  make  the  Mexi¬ 
cans  understand  that  we  have  no  sinister  purposes 
toward  them;  that  it  is  our  deepest  interest  that  they 
should  be  at  peace;  that  we  have  no  wish  to  dictate  how 
they  shall  settle  their  differences,  but  are  ready,  as  soon 
as  they  can  come  together  and  make  peace,  to  help  them 
by  the  most  liberal  subvention,  in  rebuilding  their  rail¬ 
ways  and  their  factories,  and  reopening  their  mines  and 
getting  their  farms  and  plantations  under  cultivation, 
and  restoring  thrift  and  prosperity,  plenty  and  peace  to 
this  distracted  country. 

I  am  sure  that  such  an  embassy  of  our  greatest  and 
best  citizens,  nominated  by  the  President,  authorized 
by  Congress,  and  bearing  such  a  message,  could  go  to 
the  city  of  Mexico  and  get  a  hearing.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  they  could  make  the  Mexican  people  believe  in  the 
sincerity  of  our  friendship,  and  that  the  proffer  of  it, 
in  this  impressive  and  authoritative  way,  would 
awaken  a  sentiment  among  intelligent  Mexicans  which 


14 


would  force  the  quarreling  factions  to  come  together  and 
restore  order,  and  re-establish  peace. 

Isn’t  there,  in  this  big  country,  brain  enough  and 
heart  enough  to  take  such  a  policy  down  to  Mexico  and 
put  it  over  ?  It  would  cost  something,  but  not  one  tenth 
as  much  as  to  fill  their  plains  with  armies  and  line  their 
coasts  with  cruisers,  and'deluge  their  soil  with  blood. 

It  would  cost  something,  but  think  of  the  difference 
between  the  harvest  which  would  spring  from  such  a 
sowing  compared  with  that  which  would  grow  from  the 
dragons’  teeth  with  which  we  are  now  preparing  to 
plant  the  soil  of  Mexico. 


15 


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more  copies  at  five  cents  each.  Address, 
THE  CHAMPLIN  PRESS, 
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